I purchased the Eezi-Awn brand of awning because it generally has a very good reputation for quality, designed and built in South Africa. I am not sure if some things have changed over the years, but I have actually had two of these awnings and I can tell you there were significant differences in components and quality just between the two I have owned. I have no other awning experience to compare it to, I have never even used an ARB awning for example, although I do own a lot of ARB stuff including their Roof Top Tent.

I got the 2.5M because I like how it just gives extra coverage, and if its raining that can be nice. With it extending a bit to the front of the vehicle, you could open the drivers door to get something out of it and still be in shelter.

I could easily have bought the 2000, which is retractable, but I was discouraged from doing this from those that are experienced with it, as it is supposedly more difficult to deploy solo. I overland solo. I can tell you that setting up the 1000 isn't very hard by yourself, it does take some acrobats with the poles but it all goes fairly easy and putting it away just the same.

I have more to learn about this thing. I have noticed that when storing the awning in its case, its possible for some of the legs and poles in the case to puncture the canvas. I may wrap these areas that rub in electric tape or similar. Also there can be some noise from when its stowed, with the legs bouncing around. I think they should have made the pole stays foam padded. One of my units had messed up pole stays, they were damaged in shipping, I didn't even realize how messed up they were until I saw another series 1000. It was obvious to me that they never worked right however.

My first awning had shipping damage. No ones fault, not a knock against the quality of Eezi-Awn, I mean these things aren't designed to be kicked out the back of a UPS truck. I was able to make some repairs, but in the end the actual enclosure was compromised and so I had to swap the unit out.

The second series 1000 I got was also black. But its finish was what I could describe as a rattle can type paint, a very coarse, flat black, with a texture that was chalky so that if you ran a finger nail over it, it would leave marks. My first series 1000 had a baked on enamel type finish, probably powder coat. Was impressive and it was nothing to worry about. Why the difference in paint jobs between two units? I am not sure. The first unit had a different canvas roll than the second. The second in my opinion was made cheaper. It could be the newer series 1000 have cheaper paint and awning mechanisms but its also possible there is some other explanation, so who knows.

Sometimes I think I should have just did a basic 2.5M ARB awning, but it really doesn't matter, the hard casing is nice even though it was a bit more money, and I did like they offered it in black.

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